Award Date: 2017

Project Lead(s): Joanne Ho, Clinical Research Scientist

Project Title: GeriMedRisk, a Scalable Geriatric Pharmacology Consultation Service to Prevent Adverse Drug Events Among Seniors: A Pilot Study

What is the issue? 

Seniors who take multiple medications have a higher risk of cognitive and physical impairment, falls, and increased hospital visits. 

What did we do? 

We created a medication consultation service called GeriMedRisk. Our goal was to provide a way for healthcare professionals to communicate with experts in geriatric medicine, psychiatry and pharmacy about potential complications due to multiple medications, physical and mental illnesses. The service is targeted towards nurses, doctors, and pharmacists and provides advice by telephone, fax or through eConsult via the Ontario Telemedicine Network. We evaluated the service in four long-term care homes in Waterloo and Guelph.  

What did we find?  

As the service continues to grow, we need to collect feedback from more health care professionals. One long-term care resident said the service helped them safely reduce the number of medications they were taking and highly recommended it. A long-term care physician said the service was valuable for improving patient care.